Staff Backend Engineer

Faire; Kitchener; Hybrid; CAD 184,000 - 253,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading online wholesale marketplace is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to optimize backend systems for performance and scalability. You will identify new opportunities, lead projects, and mentor fellow engineers. The ideal candidate has strong skills in Kotlin and Java 16, and experience solving complex scaling issues. Join a dynamic team working remotely with hybrid office options in Kitchener.

Benefits

Equity options

Flexible remote work up to 4 weeks per year

Health benefits

Qualifications

• Experience in solving complex scaling and latency problems.
• Strong programming skills in Kotlin and Java 16.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across teams.
• Experience in developing strategy and roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Identify new opportunities for engineering organization.
• Optimize backend systems for performance and scalability.
• Develop a strong point of view on data organization.
• Mentor fellow engineers on best practices.

Skills

Complex scaling and latency problem solving

Programming with Kotlin

Programming with Java 16

JUnit framework

Hibernate

Guice

Jersey

Relational Databases

Strong communication skills

Job description

Overview

Faire is an online wholesale marketplace built on the belief that the future is local — independent retailers around the globe are doing more revenue than Walmart and Amazon combined, but individually, they are small compared to these massive entities. At Faire, we use tech, data, and machine learning to connect this thriving community of entrepreneurs across the globe. We help retailers discover the best products to sell in their stores, with tools and insights to level the playing field so that small businesses can compete with big box and e-commerce giants. By supporting the growth of independent businesses, Faire drives positive economic impact in local communities, globally. We’re looking for smart, resourceful and passionate people to join us as we power the shop local movement.

About this role

At Faire, we empower independent retailers to thrive. The Value pillar is crucial to this mission, building programs like our Insider free shipping and FairePay credit options, Point of Sale integrations, and best-in-class fulfillment to foster long-term relationships between retailers and brands.

As a Staff Backend Engineer in the Value pillar, you'll be instrumental in accelerating product development and platform reliability. Your initial focus will be extracting key retailer data from our monolithic codebase into dedicated services, significantly increasing developer velocity. You'll also partner closely with engineers on our new fulfillment program for brands.

You'll lead both project planning and hands-on execution, supported by a diverse team of experienced and newly hired engineers, offering a strong balance of product context and fresh perspectives.

You’re excited about this role because…

• You enjoy solving challenging engineering problems related to speed, developer efficiency, and scalable architecture.
• You’re experienced working with a variety of cross-functional partners, managing expectations on timelines and scope, while bringing high priority projects from 0 to 1.
• You want to be responsible for long-term technical planning across a number of teams.
• You’re interested in experimenting with using AI tooling to significantly improve how we drive large-scale refactors and restructures of our code base.

Responsibilities

• Identify new opportunities for our eng-org, overseeing complex multi-phase projects across multiple teams and platforms from concept all the way to implementation
• Optimize backend systems for peak performance and scalability, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, fast, and scalable code
• Develop a strong point of view on how services and data should be organized at Faire in order to support both engineering velocity and website speed
• Mentor fellow engineers, sharing industry best practices in back-end development

Qualifications

• Experience in solving complex scaling and latency problems
• Strong programming skills, including experience with the following
  • Kotlin, Java 16
  • JUnit, Hibernate, Guice, Jersey
  • Relational Databases
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across functions, teams, and seniority levels.
• Experience in developing strategy and roadmap, and in leading execution autonomously.

Salary range

Canada: the pay range for this role is $184,000 - $253,000 per year.

This role will also be eligible for equity and benefits. Actual base pay will be determined based on permissible factors such as transferable skills, work experience, market demands, and primary work location. The base pay range provided is subject to change and may be modified in the future.

Hybrid Faire employees currently go into the office 2 days per week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Effective starting in January 2026, employees will be expected to go into the office on a third flex day of their choosing (Monday, Wednesday, or Friday). Additionally, hybrid in-office roles will have the flexibility to work remotely up to 4 weeks per year. Specific Workplace and Information Technology positions may require onsite attendance 5 days per week as will be indicated in the job posting. Applications for this position will be accepted for a minimum of 30 days from the posting date.

Why you’ll love working at Faire

• We are entrepreneurs: Faire is being built for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. We believe entrepreneurship is a calling and our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to chase their dreams. Every member of our team is taking part in the founding process.
• We are using technology and data to level the playing field: We are leveraging the power of product innovation and machine learning to connect brands and boutiques from all over the world, building a growing community of more than 350,000 small business owners.
• We build products our customers love: Everything we do is ultimately in the service of helping our customers grow their business because our goal is to grow the pie - not steal a piece from it. Running a small business is hard work, but using Faire makes it easy.
• We are curious and resourceful: Inquisitive by default, we explore every possibility, test every assumption, and develop creative solutions to the challenges at hand. We lead with curiosity and data in our decision making, and reason from a first principles mentality.

Faire was founded in 2017 by a team of early product and engineering leads from Square. We’re backed by some of the top investors in retail and tech including: Y Combinator, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Forerunner Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund, and DST Global. We have headquarters in San Francisco and Kitchener-Waterloo, and a global employee presence across offices in Toronto, London, and New York. To learn more about Faire and our customers, you can read more on our blog.

Faire provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Faire is committed to providing access, equal opportunity and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. Accommodations are available throughout the recruitment process and applicants with a disability may request to be accommodated throughout the recruitment process. We will work with all applicants to accommodate their individual accessibility needs. To request reasonable accommodation, please fill out our Accommodation Request Form.